The Monday Review v. 3 - Keep That Gut Bacteria in Check!

Most of us have probably heard about probiotics - bacteria that help maintain natural balance in our digestive tract. A lot of people recommend probiotics during and after a course of antibiotics - antibiotics kill off bacteria, including the "good" bacteria, so probiotics will replace the bacteria that was killed off. If our "gut flora" is out of whack, we can have all kinds of digestive problems, most of them issues that occur in the lavatory, which we will not discuss in detail but yeah. Not so much fun.

Since it is believed that 70% of the body's immune system dwells in the digestive tract, keeping the digestive tract healthy is important.

In comes Good Belly. Many probiotics are in pill form, and have to be refrigerated to keep the cultures alive. Good Belly is a liquid probiotic in the form of fruit juice. It comes in several different flavors, and 8oz a day contains 20 billion live and active cultures per serving. A LOT. (You really should go to their site and watch the short video that explains just how they work - it is cute.)

 

I was so skeptical when I decided to try this. I am a picky person. Not just about my food, but my drinks, too. I LOVE juice. I really like the Dole blends - orange peach mango, strawberry kiwi - anything fruity is good to me. And if this was going to be gross, or have a weird aftertaste - no thanks. I'll stick with probiotic capsules. (Which I take very unfaithfully because I'm forgetful.)

But I was not disappointed. I drove all the way to Whole Foods (15 min further than the grocery store) JUST to get Good Belly, and it was completely worth it. It is DELICIOUS. I have tried Pomegranate Blackberry, Blueberry Acai, and Mango, and loved them all. I usually have mine mid-morning as a pick-me-up drink. It's very sweet and tastes basically just like the Dole juices - not weird or "extra healthy." haha. They have a green kind that may be a little more leafy-tasting, but I'm going to stay away from that one and stick with the fruity flavors.

And thanks to that nice guy I married, the health market section of our Hy-Vee also carries it now! No more trips to Whole Foods. It helps to have connections in high places, but even if he hadn't asked for me, it never hurts to put in a word at your local grocery store. Their health market manager really tries to get the things customers ask for, and they'll never know you want it unless you ask!

The downside is that it is not cheap. A quart (pictured above) is $3.99, and 8oz a day means it's $1 a day. They encourage everyone to take the 12-Day Challenge - drink it for 12 days in a row (and they give you coupons!) and if you don't like the results, they will give you a full refund. So while it's quite a bit more expensive than capsule probiotics (about 2x the price for a HIGH-quality refrigerated probiotic), they stand behind it. And if you often drink juice with breakfast, you can replace it with this, which makes it even more worth it, because you don't have to spend the $3 on juice. So if you think of it as a 2-for-1, it's really not that bad.

I didn't complete the 12-Day Challenge. I did it for 10 days and then ran out (before Hy-Vee started carrying it, and I didn't have it in me to make a WF trip with the kids), but I have just started again. I did notice that my stomach was SIGNIFICANTLY more settled after I had been drinking it for several days. And some of the common pregnancy issues were helped by this. I definitely noticed a huge improvement, and less bloating/crampiness.

So I think it is worth a try! I love it.

Check out the Monday Review linky party here at The Champ Life - thanks to Andrea for hosting!